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Aya Imai (今井 絢, Imai Aya, born October 25, 2001) is a Japanese women's professional shogi player ranked 1-dan. She is the first women's professional shogi player to come from Nagoya.

Early life and becoming a women's professional shogi player

Imai was born in Nagoya on October 25, 2001. She learned how to play shogi from her father when she was five years old. At first, she mainly played against her older brother and continued to improve to the point where she start attending a local shogi school. As a second-grade elementary school student, she entered the Tokai branch of the Japan Shogi Association's training group system under the tutelage of shogi professional Masataka Sugimoto. By June 2016, she had performed well enough in the training school system to qualify for women's professional status even though she was still a third-year junior high school student, but decided to enter the JSA's professional apprentice school instead to try and obtain regular professional status. At the end of November 2022, she decided to formally leave the apprentice school at the rank of 1-kyū because she did not feel she would be able to achieve promotion to the next rank of 1-dan in accordance with JSA apprentice school's rules which require that apprentice professionals achieve said rank within one year of turning 21 years old. She decided to switch over to women's professional shogi, and formally requested to be allowed do so in January 2023. The JSA accepted her request and awarded her the rank of women's professional 1-kyū since that rank she had achieved as an apprentice professional.

Women's shogi professional

Promotion history

Imai's promotion history is as follows.

• 1-kyū: February 1, 2023
• 1-dan: August 20, 2023

Note: All ranks are women's professional ranks.

Personal life

Imai is the first women's professional from Nagoya. As of February 2023, she is a third-year university student at Doshisha University.

References

1. "Joryū Kishi Dētabēsu: Imai Aya" 女流棋士データベース: 今井絢 [Women's Professional Shogi Player Database: Aya Imai] (in Japanese). Japan Shogi Association. Retrieved February 14, 2023.
2. ^ "Imai Aya-san ga Nigatsu kara Joryūkishi Ikkyū ni" 今井絢さんが2月から女流棋士1級に [Aya Imai Kimura will be a women's professional 1-kyū from February] (in Japanese). Japan Shogi Association. January 31, 2023. Retrieved February 14, 2023.
3. ^ "Shōgi no Imai Aya-san, Nagoya Hatsu no Joryū Kishi ni Fujii Sōta Gokan to Dōmon" 将棋の今井絢さん, 名古屋初の女流棋士に 藤井聡太五冠と同門 [Aya Imai becomes Nagoya's first women's professional shogi player; she has the same teacher as Sōta Fujii 5-crown]. Chunichi Shimbun (in Japanese). February 1, 2023. Retrieved February 14, 2023.
4. ^ Seko, Hiroko (February 4, 2023). "Shoreikai no Rokunenhan ｢Ishiki Kaikaku｣" 奨励会の6年半 ｢意識改革｣ [Six-and-a-half years as an apprentice professional changed Aya Imai's way of thinking]. Chunichi Shimbun (in Japanese). Retrieved February 14, 2023.
5. ^ Kitano, Arata (February 1, 2023). "Fujii Sōta Ryūō no Imōto Deshi ga Joryu Kishi ni Imai Aya-san ga Kataru ｢Fujii Sensei｣" 藤井聡太竜王の妹弟子が女流棋士に 今井絢さんが語る ｢藤井先生｣ [Aya Imai, who has the same shogi teacher as Sōta Fujii Ryūō, obtains women's professional status; she talks about "Fujii Sensei"]. Asahi Shimbun (in Japanese). Retrieved February 14, 2023.
6. "Joryū Kishi Dētabēsu: Imai Aya Shōdan Rireki" 女流棋士データベース: 今井絢 昇段履歴 [Women's Professional Shogi Player Database: Aya Imai Promotion History] (in Japanese). Japan Shogi Association. Retrieved August 22, 2023.

• 2001 births
• Living people
• Japanese shogi players
• Female shogi players
• Professional shogi players from Aichi Prefecture